Scott Welch and Abid Ali presented an update from the New Community Transformation Fund (NCTF), saying the city’s $100,000 investment in 2023 helped seed activity and that, to date, NCTF has deployed $3.3 million across 12 portfolio companies.

Abid Ali, managing director, said NCTF screened roughly 1,200 opportunities and invested in 12 companies with an average check of about $421,000. He highlighted several portfolio companies that have local ties or created local activity: Honeycomb Credit (a fintech platform that NCTF supports to match crowdfunding with a local match up to $20,000), Opener (a marketplace for musicians that generated its first revenue quarter after NCTF investment), Hollow Footwear (which reported growth from $2 million to an expected $23 million in revenue and national retail placements), and Hummus Goodness (a CPG success that NCTF helped scale to national distribution).

Ali said the Michigan Strategic Fund has committed $9.8 million to NCTF’s Fund 2 after a multi‑month diligence process, but those funds are only active if NCTF raises matching capital. He described Fund 2’s focus as pre‑seed investments intended to keep early Michigan companies from relocating out of state and said the target portfolio size is 13–15 companies with 3–5 investments per year.

Commissioners asked how NCTF coordinates with other local capital providers and the Urban League. Scott Welch said NCTF intentionally sits further down the financing spectrum (providing larger checks for later‑stage scaling) and that the fund offers non‑financial supports — networks, mentorship and preparation — alongside capital to make investees ready for institutional rounds. Welch and Ali said they regularly converse and partner with other ecosystem actors to refer and prepare companies for investment.

No formal action or city additional appropriation was taken at the meeting. Presenters offered to provide more detail in follow‑up Q&A and materials.